“You have to build a NATO which is sustainable and therefore is not over reliant on the U.S. as a stronger Europe in a stronger NATO, where the Europeans and the Canadians are really stepping up,” the NATO chief said.
But it’s not just pressure from Trump that is getting the alliance to boost its defense spending. The other key driver is Vladimir Putin. Allies are determined to continue supporting Ukraine with cash and weapons and also to build up their own defenses to deter a possible Russian attack.
“We’ve got to do this because of the Russians’ threat, and we see what the Russians are doing in Ukraine,” Rutte said, adding that the goal is to defend the 1 billion people in NATO countries “against the Russian threat, the massive Chinese build-up, and the fact that Russia, China, North Korea, Iran work together.”
Trump has also vented about the reluctance of many European allies to help in the war he launched against Iran.
“We were let down,” Trump said last month when Rutte met him in the Oval Office. “We didn’t need help on this at all. We demolished [Iran] literally in the first week but it would have been nice if they would have said, ‘We’d like to help.'”
But Rutte again underlined that European countries were crucial to the bombing campaign against Iran.